Cognitive Neuroscience

Toward a cognitive neuroscience of technology

By Federico G, Ilardi CR, Brandimonte MA et al.

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Abstract

In our target article, we proposed a hub-and-processors model of technological cognition. The twelve commentaries that followed offer a rare opportunity to refine, extend and test that framework against new perspectives. We integrate their contributions into a revised synthesis. The parietal sites now gain sharper anatomical definition: core substrates of technical reasoning can be more clearly distinguished from adjacent regions supporting manipulation knowledge and mental-to-digital goal-directed conceptual transformations. The inferior frontal gyrus, in turn, emerges as a dual-function node - one that routes information across hubs while simultaneously meeting the planning and control demands of tool-related behavior. Beyond cortical organization, the commentaries push the framework toward white-matter connectivity, reward and motivational circuits, as well as affordance-based theoretical accounts spanning the physical, digital and symbolic domains. They also broaden the model's translational scope to aging, neurodegeneration, digital inclusion, and neurorehabilitation, and open new lines of inquiry into temporal dynamics, expertise, and cognitive extension. The cumulative result is a strengthened case for a cognitive neuroscience of technology: a mechanistic, translational and lifespan-oriented program aimed at understanding how the brain supports technology use, acquires technological skills and is, over time, reshaped by sustained engagement with technological artifacts.

The paper

Federico G, Ilardi CR, Brandimonte MA et al.

Cognitive Neuroscience, Mar 23, 2026

doi.org/10.1080/17588928.2026.2647745PubMed 41871368